Villarreal, Van de Putte responded differently to protest

State Rep. Mike Villarreal might’ve been wondering this last week at the ribbon-cutting for an East Side microbrewery. As he and other elected officials spoke, a small group of protesters jeered overhead from the historic Hays Street bridge, more than one of them a supporter of his mayoral campaign.

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The protest elicited off-the-cuff reactions from both Villarreal and state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, his opponent in the mayor’s race, revealing sharp contrasts in style.

The protesters were angry that City Council had voted the day before to approve a deal that would sell land next to the brewery to Alamo Beer. The Hays Street Bridge Restoration Group had filed a lawsuit arguing that the land had been donated for use as parkland.

“When neighbors fight, going to court, that’s usually the worst way to solve a problem,” Villarreal told the crowd. “A better way is to sit down and have an honest conversation.”

“No one even told us about the vote!” someone shouted from the bridge.

“And that’s important to reflect on also,” Villarreal continued. “We all know that a judge ruled and found that the city did have a binding contract with a historic restoration group that started this development. It was a ruling that our friends on the bridge believe they won, and in my read of the findings, I believe they won.”

Already, Villarreal was taking risks that Van de Putte would not: addressing the protesters directly and stating his position on a controversial issue. He would stray even further from political correctness, criticizing “city leadership” for not communicating clearly with its opponents that the sale of the land was moving forward.

(That’s a questionable stance in itself. On Nov. 26, a week before the council vote, the city attorney contacted the lawyer for the restoration group by email and certified mail, informing her that “city staff intends to recommend to City Council that the city complete the sale of the property to Alamo Beer” and “the item will be posted on the agenda for the Dec. 4, 2014, City Council meeting.”)

“We can say a lot about elected officials, but let me tell you one thing that we are supposed to do: We’re supposed to talk, our word is supposed to mean something,” Villarreal told the crowd. “We’re supposed to compromise and bring people together, find common ground and move forward, not give our word, communicate that we’re maybe going to find a settlement and then break our word.”

For a ribbon-cutting, it was an astonishing moment. Its peculiarity was amplified by Van de Putte, whose speech a few minutes later leaned on platitudes one would expect. Ignoring the protesters, she spoke of job growth, commerce and the sacrifice of military veterans.

Asked later by a reporter about the city’s actions, Van de Putte pivoted to disparage the protesters.

“Certainly, I’m not an attorney,” she said. “I’m not privy to that. What was disheartening for me was to see the protesters turn their backs on the American flag and refuse to even acknowledge the American and the Texas flags. Say what you will about the process of this, but the disrespect ... I have never seen shouts and insults hurled during a prayer with a minister.”

The protesters “need to sit back at a table, but first of all, they need to learn their manners,” she said.

Van de Putte had decided she didn’t need Villarreal’s friends on the bridge.

Both candidates could use more friends in the business community, though; that bloc remains split. Villarreal, a longtime supporter of the craft beer industry, later used the hullabaloo over the bridge and the beer to pivot with savvy himself.

“I don’t believe our city government’s legal department should be playing cat-and-mouse games with its citizens, whether it’s a historic preservation group or a real estate developer,” he said. “There are lots of examples, not just with historic preservation groups, there are examples where citizens who want to do business inside of San Antonio, who want to develop real estate with San Antonio, feel like the city is using its administrative authority to increase their costs of doing business here.”